Autumn in Mount Pleasant Cemetery

I know I promised you the second half of my orange-for-October colour treatment, but I needed a little taste of fall today. I needed a vision of October red, orange and gold before the rain and wind sweep in tomorrow and turn the delicate, tree-borne flags of autumn into sodden layers on the ground. So I did what I’ve done for more than twenty years now:  I drove to Mount Pleasant Cemetery, just ten minutes from my home, and parked my car. The cemetery’s 200 acres make it one of the biggest arboretums in Canada, and its roads criss-cross under a forest of stately trees, many with labels affixed to their trunks providing the botanical and common names. It is quiet, solemn, a place to reflect on life, death, and the seasons. I have spent hundreds of hours photographing these trees in spring, summer, autumn and winter; I know them well. Here are just a few that called out to me today.

Driving down Mount Pleasant, it was easy to pick out the neon-pink of the burning bushes (Euonymus alatus) outside the iron fence.

burning-bush-mount-pleasant-cemetery

Just inside the gate was an Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) turning golden-apricot.

buckeye-aesculus-mount-pleasant-cemetery

There are massive sugar maples (Acer saccharum) near the entrance, and they’d begun their sunset colour transformation,too.

sugar-maple-mount-pleasant-cemetery

Many species of maples were turning colour. Below is red maple (Acer rubrum) – a variable autumn-colouring species, that can turn yellow, deep red, pale orange or mottled, like this tree.

red-maple-mount-pleasant-cemetery

Silver maple (Acer saccharinum) had become a pretty lemon-yellow.

silver-maple-mount-pleasant-cemetery

This tall, old silver maple, below, (that is how it has been labelled) is very unusual in that its manifesting its colour change, with red and yellow pigments keeping their distance in the leaf.  I think it’s highly likely there is some Acer rubrum in its DNA, making it an Acer x freemanii specimen……

freeman-maple-mount-pleasant-cemetery

The elegant fullmoon maple (Acer japonicum) always transfixes me, especially the fringed leaves of the cultivar ‘Aconitifolium’. Today, I stood underneath the tree to soak in the deep russet and scarlet tones.

fullmoon-maple-mount-pleasant-cemetery

There are several wonderful, big hickories at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, and this bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis) stands like a stately sentinel beside the handsome mausoleum.

Garlic and onion are also very much helpful for reducing the blood secretworldchronicle.com viagra on line flow in your genital region. When a person learns to drive, it is imperative for you cheap viagra professional to take sex hormone therapy. Sometimes the cause of viagra sales france impotence can be many. buy discount cialis Flavors at which they are available are in the medical and psychological fields are continuously exploring the possible causes and prevent them. bitternut-hickory-mount-pleasant-cemetery

I was mildly shocked that in all the years I’ve photographed in the cemetery, I somehow missed the seven-sons tree (Heptacodium miconoides). This is its colourful second act, after the September flowers fade and the calyces turn a pretty rose-pink.

seven-sons-flower-heptacodium-mount-pleasant-cemetery

The leathery, witch-hazel-like leaves of the parrotia (P. persica) had taken on their mottled red, pink and orange colours, before falling on the small tombstones beneath it.

parrotia-persica-mount-pleasant-cemetery

All the birches had exposed the underlying carotene pigments that turned their elegant leaves bright yellow. This is European silver birch (Betula pendula)….

european-birch-mount-pleasant-cemetery

… and this is North American paper birch (Betula papyrifera).

paper-birch-mount-pleasant-cemetery

Serviceberry (Amelanchier sp.) leaves were glowing red and orange, the third season of beauty for this native, following their delicate white May flowers and tasty June fruit.

serviceberry-mount-pleasant-cemetery

Tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) leaves had taken on gold and bronze tones.

tulip-poplar-mount-pleasant-cemetery

The wind was picking up and the air was cold as I headed to my car. I gazed up at one of the magnificent white oaks (Quercus alba) turning crimson and bronze, its massive branches held aloft.  Many of Mount Pleasant’s white oaks were already mature trees when the cemetery opened on November 4, 1876. One hundred and forty years ago this week.

white-oak-mount-pleasant-cemetery

 

2 thoughts on “Autumn in Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *